Mining company's generation plant to be largest of its kind

A power generating plant to be developed east of Reno for Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc.

will be the largest of its type in the United States.

Wartsila Corp., which is building the plant 15 miles east of Reno, said the 115-megawatt plant will be the largest gas reciprocating engine plant in the nation, according to the U.S.

Department of Energy.

(A megawatt is enough power to meet the needs of about 500 homes.) A gas reciprocating plant relies on pistons to drive a generator.

Turbine plants, which are more common, rely on rotating blades.

Larry Morasse, construction manager for Barrick Goldstrike, said the mining company picked the technology because it uses almost no water, can be built quickly, operates well in the high, dry climate of Nevada and is priced competitively.

Wartsila, based in Helsinki, Finland, said last week the plant is expected to be in operation by October, 12 months after the contract documents were signed.

Financial terms weren't disclosed.

The 115 megawatts of power produced by the plant to be built near an existing Sierra Pacific Power generating plant along Interstate 80 will be used to power Barrick Goldstrike's mining operations in Nevada.

That includes two underground mines, an open-pit mine and two large milling facilities.

State law gives mining companies and other big power users the right to develop their own sources of electricity.

That gives mining companies more control over one of their biggest costs and frees up electric supply to meet the needs of the state's fast-growing population.

Newmont Mining, the state's biggest mining company, is studying construction of a coal-fired plant to power its northern Nevada operations.

Both Barrick and Newmont may sell a portion of their electric production back to Sierra Pacific Power.